he course of evolution in the small cycle which is
nearer to us, the cycle of the sub-race, then it is comparatively easy
for us, as regards the future, to foresee the appearance of those
characteristics in the Root-Race that corresponds to the sub-race. And
I shall want to use that method in dealing with the future of the
Society; it is for that reason that I draw your attention to these
continually recurring cycles of times and events. Now if we look back
to the Fourth Root-Race, we can study in the history of that Race the
evolution of the Fifth. We can see the methods used to bring about
that evolution. We can trace the means which were employed in order
that that evolution might be made secure; and we can see, by studying
that which lies behind us, that the fourth sub-race of that Root-Race
showed out the characteristics of the Fourth Race as a whole; that the
fifth sub-race of that Fourth showed out some of the characteristics
of the Fifth Root-Race that was to follow in the course of evolution.
And in this way, applying the analogy, if we can trace out to some
extent for ourselves the characteristics of the sixth sub-race which
is to succeed our own fifth sub-race, then we shall be on the track of
the line of evolution which will bring about the Sixth Root-Race when
the time for its coming strikes. Let us glance back for a moment to
see the main points of the evolution of a sub-race and a Race.

When our own Fifth Root-Race was to be evolved, certain types were
chosen out of the fifth sub-race of the Fourth Root-Race, and they
were chosen by the Manu who was to guide the evolution of the Fifth
Root-Race. Those types showed out in a comparatively germinal fashion
the mental characteristics which were to grow out of the selected
groups. And you may learn, if you care to do it, how those choices
were made, and how the first choice was a failure. Chosen as it was by
the wisdom of the highly exalted being whom we speak of as the Manu,
none the less the material in which He tried to work proved too
stubborn, too little plastic, to adapt itself to His influence
striving to shape and to mould it. And in consequence, after prolonged
efforts, He threw aside the families that thus He had selected, and
began making a new choice, a fresh selection, in order to see if the
second choice would prove more fortunate than the first. And the way
He chose them was a simple and effective one: He selected a certain
number of His own di